Calum’s game on awards shortlist
TEENAGE boys are constantly being nagged to get off their computers but one Ardrishaig lad has taken his passion for gaming to the next level and been shortlisted for a games design award.
Calum McCartan, 18, is a finalist in the BAFTA Young Game Designers Award having designed the game, Space Drifter, in which gamers have to defeat waves of enemies and navigate an asteroid belt. Calum found out about the competition at school and set his mind to coming up with the perfect idea but all didn’t quite to plan as Calum explained. ‘It was designed by accident. I was trying to design another game,’ he said.
This proved to be a happy accident as the judges were impressed with the game and shortlisted it. There are 50 young game designers aged between 10 and 18 shortlisted, six are from north of tghe border, so it looks like Scotland’s thriving games industry will have a bright future.
Calum is looking forward to building a career in the computing and gaming industry and can’t wait to take up his place at St Andrews University to study computer programming after the summer. Harvey Elliott, chairman of the BAFTA games committee, said of the awards: ‘Each year we are overwhelmed by the calibre of talent identified in this competition, and this year is no exception, with our finalists clearly among the most promising young games designers in the country.’